


Chlorine Kisses

by ImogenSmiley



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: 52 Week Oneshot Challenge, ADHD, ADHD Aoi Asahina, ADHD Character, ADHD headcanon, Aoi Asahina Has ADHD, Canon Compliant?, Crushes, F/F, First Kiss, First Kisses, Forgotten School Memories, Getting Together, Insecurities, Oneshot, Pining, Pre-Killing Game, School Life, School memories, Teenage Awkwardness, i guess, pre-canon?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:02:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25990261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImogenSmiley/pseuds/ImogenSmiley
Summary: Hina really struggled with studying, but, Sakura had an idea that could help.
Relationships: Asahina Aoi & Ogami Sakura, Asahina Aoi/Ogami Sakura
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Chlorine Kisses

Ogami Sakura was the kind of girl that Asahina Aoi always dreamed of, sensitive, strong, and could crush her like a toothpick if she wanted to. She was a beautiful model of athleticism with a physique she would kill for. And for some reason, the best martial artist in the high school circuit wanted to talk to her? Cared about what she had to say?

God she couldn’t begin to articulate how special that made her feel.

Aoi always knew she wasn’t that clever, she accepted that she would probably coast through school, scraping her way out of flunking, because her talents lied elsewhere, in sports. Sakura was similar like that, which was how they started talking.

Hope’s Peak Academy was a place for the best of the best, the prodigies of this generation crammed into a space to learn how to hone those otherwise unearthly talents. Regardless of their academic potential.

Aoi was very much a “regardless of their academic potential” kind of student, at points she had confided in friends and classmates saying that it sounded like the clause had only been added for her. All of her classmates could pass with just a little bit of effort. She wondered why Leon, Mondo and Sakura even wasted their time with supplementary classes until she realised maybe it was to make her feel less lonely while she banged her head against the desk, hoping a coherent sentence would appear on the page in front of her. No amount of tutelage seemed to get the information into her head, or at least, not to the point she could actively retain it.

Short attention spans were one thing, a fair few students at Hope’s Peak struggled with focusing due to disinterest, but it wasn’t even through a lack of trying, it was a lack of stimulation.

It was Sakura’s idea to utilise the school’s facilities to help her friend study.

And so, the two girls embarked on a quest to study, at the school pool. Aoi did her warm up, while Sakura acquired a pool noodle and an inflatable lilo to blow up. As Aoi finished her second length of the pool and her stretches, Sakura eased herself down onto the lilo, falling off straight away. Aoi giggled, easing her way over to her friend, holding the inflatable still for her.

They exchanged smiles, cheeks ablaze with blush.

“Okay, Hina, are you ready to study?”

Her friend nodded. And so, Sakura laid back on the lilo and tossed her friend the pool-noodle. She would swim in place, noodle around her middle to keep her restless limbs occupied while she studied.

Sakura didn’t notice much of a difference in her friend’s behaviour, but that didn’t mean something hadn’t clicked. The next morning, Aoi had been sitting on Sakura’s desk, kicking her legs, purple bags beneath her eyes. She slurped a protein shake, listening to music through one earphone.

“Hey, Sakura-chan!” she exclaimed, “Can we study together tonight?”

Sakura’s cheeks tinged pink as she nodded, “Yeah, I’d like that Hina…”

“Something wrong?” the petite girl asked her taller friend, swinging her toned legs outward, socks riding down.

“N-no.”

Her friend’s gaze flickered across the room to where some of her class-mates were sat.

Hifumi raised his eyebrows at the two girls. Aoi caught his eye and curled her lip upward at him, sneering. She didn’t dignify him with a response.

“You sure that’s okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Sakura replied, her eyes flickering from her friend to her seat.

Aoi blushed crimson, jumping off the table-top and skittering to her own desk diagonal from Sakura’s, in front of Toko. She sighed to herself, head in her hands.

What was all of that about? Was she seriously that stupid? Why couldn’t she articulate herself?

She had managed to keep her flustered panicked thoughts to the minimum throughout lessons, being in such a close-knit cohort at school tended to make it easier, the group could hang out as a unit at lunch just about as easily as they could just co-exist. But having company meant that she wasn’t thinking about Sakura and thinking about her holding Sakura’s hand, running her hands through Sakura’s hair, being held close to her toned body. How at the start of the year, she had crushed a watermelon between her thighs on a dare, while Aoi could barely juice an orange with her own! There was some serious power in her – and she needed to focus on something else!

Aoi had changed into her swimsuit and skittered to the highest diving board, it wasn’t the recommended practice to dive into the water without submerging yourself in it first, but maybe the breaking of the surface tension would be a big enough shock to her system that she would be able to focus again.

Sakura was ready faster than she had been the previous day, having neglected to deflate the lilo the previous night meant that she could just toss it into the water and help study with her classmate, her friend.

It had been months and Sakura still had no idea why Aoi was her friend. In terms of athletic ability, the girls were clearly on par, each honing their skills in their respective fields. But she was much rougher around the edges, way too masculine, and strong. She knew that Aoi was a lesbian. Her best friend had been vocal about that from the first day of school, and it hadn’t phased her until she realised that suddenly she wanted to talk to Aoi more than just about what ingredients they could put in a protein shake, and whether adding doughnuts would detract from the purpose of a protein shake in the first place.

Watching her leap from the highest platform with such ease, a complete lack of fear and statuesque form was like watching a bird swoop down to catch prey, like watching Icarus with this artificial wings, soar in the sky, like watching the Angel Gabriel greet Mary in a chlorine embrace and all Sakura wanted was to be the one to catch her.

The water broke her fall, the impact splashing waves of pool-water toward the edge. She had skittered away, looking down at herself; stomach knotting at the thought that she hadn’t shaved her legs that morning, and how her toenails were ridged, with chipped magenta polish on them. Maybe she should have touched that up. She felt inferior in front of such a beautiful person, such a graceful talent.

Aoi swam toward the poolside, “You know, Sakura-chan, studying in the pool is an amazing experience, I wonder if it works the same way for you doing judo or something? My head seems to be clear when I’m here.”

“Maybe it’s the pool chemicals, making your brain all mushy?” Sakura offered, dipping her feet into the water. The girls exchanged a grin.

“Have you considered getting one of those fidget aid things?”

“Aren’t they only for autistic people?”

“No?” Sakura replied, easing her way into the pool. The water was up to her waist, and was cold. She shivered but tried not to let the temperature of the water distract her, “Autistic people, people with ADHD, people with anxiety, all kinds of people can benefit from them. They’re apparently really helpful.”

Aoi ducked her head, looking at her reflection in the water’s surface she chewed on her lip and swam away.

Sakura watched her go. Under the water, Aoi was like a creature from another world. There was so much power in her kicks, in her strokes, in her tight waist and strong, wide hips. It was like she was a mermaid, rarely needing to use her arms. She didn’t come up for air, and instead just swam. It was like she had gills, she would occasionally bob up but she was off in her head.

Sakura had learned in her time being friends with Aoi that when her thoughts became too much then maybe she was best to leave her alone. She waded toward the edge of the pool and made her way up the steps, leaving Aoi alone in the embrace of the swimming pool.

She didn’t call her, text her or message Sakura on social media that night.

Instead, the two girls stared at the enter keys on their respective devices, mulling over whether an apology for being crass, an apology for overstepping, for assuming, for being rude or brash.

The next day was hard. Neither wanted to go to class, neither wanted to acknowledge they were wrong. Neither wanted to overstep even more than they already had.

But, the desperation to see each other was bigger than their own sense of pride. And they dragged themselves back up to Class 78’s room. Sakura had arrived first, eyes sunken with dark circles, knocking back a protein shake, another one sat in a clear reusable cup on Aoi’s desk. It was pink, with strawberry protein, her favourite.

They didn’t get a chance to talk for a while, not until break time where Sakura approached Aoi’s desk.

“Can we, uh…talk?”

“Sure, Sakura-chan.”

The girls nodded and stepped out into the hallway, “Sakura-chan I-”

“Hina, I-”

“You first.”

“No, you.”

“Sakura-chan, how did you know?”

“Know?” her friend said, raising a fine snowy brow.

“Yeah?” Aoi said, lowering her voice, “About my you know, ADHD…”

Sakura paled, “I- Hina, I didn’t have a clue.”

Her blue-eyed friend gazed up at her with fear in her eyes, “But, how did you…”

“I didn’t. I’m sorry, I never meant to offend you,” Sakura said, averting her deep hazel eyes from hers, cheeks ablaze, “I never wanted to upset you, you mean a lot to me.”

Aoi reached toward her best friend’s hands, taking hold of her balled fists and uncurling them. She laced their fingers together and smiled up at her, “You mean a lot to me, too. Hell, you’re my favourite person!”

“Really?”

“Absolutely! Sakura-chan you’re the best person. I-” Aoi cut herself off.

Both girls gazed at one another, cheeks ablaze as Makoto Naegi opened the door to the classroom, he beckoned them to come back inside, class was about to resume.

Both girls seemed to realise throughout the rest of the day that they had made a scene, how loud and obnoxious their declarations had been, neither sure about how best to rectify what had happened.

Instead, they seemed to agree in silence that they would talk later, they would talk when they were alone.

They met again in the swimming pool. Aoi was simply floating the sea of chlorine, gazing up at the white lights, one hand upward, reaching for something she couldn’t quite grasp.

Sakura watched her from the poolside, and she seemed to notice her. Aoi swam to the edge of the pool and smiled, Sakura’s cheeks were ablaze.

She couldn’t tear her eyes off her best friend, how the sheen of pool-water glistened on her rich and tanned skin, how there didn’t seem to be a single blemish on her as she waddled toward her, swimsuit heavy from the excess water it had taken in, whilst shrinking against her frame. Almost her entire body was exposed, from the smooth curvature of her waist, to the dimples between her legs and hipbones. She wore a smile as she rung her hair out, not having bothered to wear a swimming cap.

A puddle began to form by her feet from where the water fell. She sighed to herself, knees buckling. She wasn’t sure whether it was the cold from being out of the pool or the nerves. She swallowed hard and looked up at her best friend, who had yet to get changed.

“Sakura-chan, I’m sorry I got so mad at you yesterday.”

“I’m sorry too, I genuinely didn’t have any idea.”

“It’s okay, Sakura-chan, I shouldn’t have expected you to have known. It was really childish of me.”

Sakura exhaled audibly, “Do you want to study tonight, Hina?”

She shook her head, “No. Let’s do something different. Something new.”

“Something new?” Sakura echoed, eyes wide.

Aoi nodded, lacing their fingers together, “Whatever you want, favourite person”

“You wanna try something new?” Sakura offered, “How about this?”

She took her best friend in her arms, carrying her soaked body bridal style and flung her into the pool. The scream that escaped from her lips was shrill and childlike, it made a grin cross Sakura’s lips. She leapt into the pool too.

Aoi swam toward her best friend, now wearing a drenched uniform, snaked her arms around the taller girl’s neck and kissed her quickly.

“Let’s do that again,” Sakura breathed, “And never, ever stop.”

Aoi nodded, smiling as they kissed again, loving how small she felt in Sakura’s arms.


End file.
